The U.S. just can’t catch a break in the 2018 Hearthstone Global Games.
After a tough week one draw against China, The United States team find themselves in the lower half of the Swiss standings going into week two. For a strong team who suffered an early loss, they should be able to course correct against weaker teams in that pool.
But instead, the U.S. has been drawn by another team who feel they were hard done by in week one—the United Kingdom.
The U.K. didn’t play on stream this week, but they lost 2-3 to Finland. They felt they had won the pick and ban phase, but the random ordering of their decks ran them into some unlikely unfavored matchups. Week two is a chance for them to prove it wasn’t just talk.
With the way the Swiss format works, teams need a 4-2 record to go through to the second group stage. That means that the loser of this match will have no margin for error—after dropping two matches, you need to go undefeated in four rounds to advance. That’s going to be a tough task for any team.
Another big surprise in week one was the loss for Norway. Despite being picked as a favorite to win the whole thing, Norway were stunned 1-3 by Indonesia. That drops them down into the 0-1 cohort where they face Israel, one of the surprise standouts from the 2017 tournament, next week.
Norway’s Scandinavian compatriots Denmark also suffered a shocking loss in week one, going down 0-3 to Peru. They will face Argentina in week two, a lineup featuring recent Summer Championship quarterfinalist Facundo “Nalguidan” Pruzzo.
The tournament resumes on Tuesday, July 24, at 2am CT.
